System and Method For Contextual Advertising and Merchandizing Based On User Configurable Preferences

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented system and method for contextual advertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences is disclosed. The system in an example embodiment includes an advertising (ad) preferences service to obtain user preference information related to advertising, enable user configuration of the user preference information related to advertising, and modify the presentation of advertising to the user based upon the user configured preference information.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. application No. of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/974,764 filed Aug. 23, 2013, which is acontinuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/774,671 filed Jul. 9, 2007, the entire disclosures of which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to methods and systems supporting onlineadvertising and online transactions by a user. More particularly, thepresent disclosure relates to contextual advertising and merchandizingbased on user configurable preferences.

RELATED ART

An increasingly popular way of delivering Internet advertisements is totie the presentation of advertisements to particular user behaviorsand/or user profiles, and/or user demographics. Such user behaviorsinclude user access to a particular web page, user selection (alsocalled mouse-clicking or clicking) of a particular location on a webpage, user entry of a particular search string or keyword, and the like.In order to target advertising accurately, advertisers or vendors pay tohave their advertisements presented in response to certain kinds ofevents—that is, their advertisements are presented when particular userbehaviors warrant such presentation. If a particular advertisement (ad)leads to some user action, an advertiser may receive remuneration forthe ad.

Using other systems and processes on the Web, users can search for goodsand services via the Internet and shop or make purchases of goods orservices over the Internet. Unfortunately, conventional systems have notbeen able to create an effective way of extracting keywords from webpages and create contextual advertisements that may lead to a userpurchase transaction.

Some conventional web-based merchants use affiliate programs. In anaffiliate program, the merchant itself must track purchase transactionsand reward 3^(rd) party affiliates when purchase transactions arecompleted. This transaction tracking and rewarding process imposes asignificant administrative burden on the merchant. Moreover, thetracking/reward functionality must be replicated for each merchant thatchooses to use such a system. Current technology does not provide asolution for off-loading this tracking/reward functionality to a 3^(rd)party without risking an increase in fraudulent transactions and adecrease in the time-efficiency of processing purchase transactions.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061 discloses methods and apparatuses for targetingthe delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet.Statistics are compiled on individual users and networks and the use ofthe advertisements is tracked to permit targeting of the advertisementsof individual users. In response to requests from affiliated sites, anadvertising server transmits to people accessing the page of a site anappropriate one of the advertisements based upon profiling of users andnetworks. However, the user is not offered the opportunity to opt-out ofthe advertising or to configure the preferences or profile that wasautomatically created based on user activity.

Thus, a system and method for contextual advertising and merchandizingbased on user configurable preferences is needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments illustrated by way of example and not limitation in thefigures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an example advertisement with the userselectable display object associated with the ad in an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example embodiment of a preferences webpagedisplayed to a user when the user activates the display object.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example embodiment of a webpage used to configureuser advertising preferences.

FIG. 5 illustrates a system architecture for delivering advertising tousers in a networked system.

FIG. 6 is a processing flow diagram of an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a network system on which an embodiment mayoperate.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are block diagrams of an example computer system on whichan embodiment may operate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A computer-implemented system and method for contextual advertising andmerchandizing based on user configurable preferences is disclosed. Inthe following description, numerous specific details are set forth.However, it is understood that embodiments may be practiced withoutthese specific details. In other instances, well-known processes,structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not toobscure the clarity of this description.

As described further below, according to various example embodiments ofthe disclosed subject matter described and claimed herein, there isprovided a computer-implemented system and method for contextualadvertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences.The system includes an advertising (ad) preferences service to obtainuser preference information related to advertising and to modify thepresentation of advertising to the user based upon the user preferenceinformation. Various embodiments are described below in connection withthe figures provided herein.

Typical contextual advertising implementations show advertisements thatare textually related to the content that the user is browsing or hasbrowsed. In newer systems, behavioral information and day parting isused to improve upon the contextual advertising. Other systems enhancecontextual advertising with user demography gleaned from varioussources. In these example embodiments, the advertisements shown are notnecessarily related to the context of the content; rather, theadvertisements shown can be related to a merchandizing opportunity basedon a user's automatically determined demographic profile to create a newdimension in contextual advertising. Such a new dimension in contextualadvertising leverages user demographic information obtained in previoususer interactions unrelated to the current user interaction or behavior.

By observing search, view, bid, buy, payment and other activities ofknown user demographies, a host system can use various heuristics togenerate associations between user demographic profiles and Item Groups,with associated levels of interest of users of those demographicprofiles in that Item Group. Item Groups may represent Products,Services, or other web items. Demographic profiles may be aggregatedalong one or more dimensions (e.g. age, gender, location, etc.). ItemGroups may also be aggregated along one or more dimensions (e.g.category, price, vendor, payment method, etc.). The term Item Group mayalso represent items for sale as well as web pages/sections, and/orsites.

As the description above indicates, targeted advertising has become morecomplex. However, even the best algorithms for targeting ad content toparticular users can produce errant or annoying ad content that may notbe considered relevant or useful to the user. As such, it would bebeneficial to enable the user to configure the advertising-relatedparameters or profiles that have been automatically created by varioussystems that monitor user behaviors, collect demographic information, orotherwise associate users with particular types of ads. The variousembodiments described herein enable the user to configure (e.g. edit,modify, select, de-select, enable, disable, etc.) variousadvertising-related parameters or preference information.

An example embodiment is described in the following section. Referringto FIGS. 1 and 2, an example advertisement 310 is illustrated. Ad 310represents a typical ad displayed to an on-line computer user isconventional systems. Such an ad 310 may have been automaticallyselected for display to a particular user (i.e. targeted) because of theuser's previous behavior or demographics. Conventional systems do notprovide a way for the user to opt-out of the targeted advertisingsystem. Further, conventional systems do not provide a way for the userto configure advertising parameters to increase the likelihood thatsubsequent targeted ads will be more relevant for the particular user.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an example embodiment includes a displayobject 320 that enables the user to configure advertising parameters. Inone embodiment, display object 320 is a hyperlink that re-directs theuser to a separate preferences configuration webpage when the userclicks on the display object 320. In another embodiment, the displayobject 320 can activate a preferences configuration box when the displayobject 320 is clicked or activated with a mouseover. In otherembodiments, the display object 320 can cause the activation of a set ofpreferences checkboxes when the display object 320 is selected andright-clicked. Many other alternative implementations can be used toindicate the selection and/or activation of display object 320 therebyactivating the enables the functionality of various embodiments toenable a user to configure advertising parameters. In yet otherembodiments, the activation of advertising configuration functionalitycan be offered as part of a tool bar or drop-down menu selectionassociated with the configuration of other system parameters. In theparticular embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the display object 320 isa link that redirects the user to a separate preference configurationwebpage when a user clicks on the display object 320. In addition, theparticular embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 provides additionalinformation for the user when a user performs a mouseover on the displayobject 320. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the user has performed amouseover of display object 320 by position cursor 322 in a proximateposition to display object 320. As a result, an information box 324 hasbeen displayed for the user to explain the purpose of display object320. If the user clicks on the display object 320 while cursor 322 is ina proximate position to display object 320, the user will be redirectedto a separate webpage, such as the webpage 410 shown in FIG. 3 anddescribed below.

FIG. 1 illustrates and embodiment in which the display object 320 isdisplayed outside of the borders of the underlying ad 310. In thisembodiment, no portion of the ad 310 is obscured by display object 320.An alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the displayobject 320 is shown overlaid on a portion of the underlying ad 310. Inthis embodiment, the display object 320 can appear as a watermark on thead 310. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art thateither of these particular implementations and equivalent embodimentscan be used to enable a user to configure advertising parameters.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an example embodiment illustrates a preferenceswebpage displayed to a user when the user activates the display object320 using any of the various methods described above. In an exampleembodiment, preferences page 410 includes a portion 412 (e.g. a link)that enables a user to link to a separate page used to configureadvertising preferences. If the user clicks on the portion 412 while thecursor is in a proximate position to portion 412, the user will beredirected to a separate webpage, such as the webpage 510 shown in FIG.4 and described below. In an alternative embodiment, the user can belinked directly to webpage 510 when the user activates the displayobject 320 using any of the various methods described above.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an example embodiment of a webpage used toconfigure user advertising preferences is illustrated. In oneembodiment, the user is presented with a webpage 510 upon activation ofdisplay object 320 as described above. It will be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art that page 510 may equivalently be implementedas a dialog box, a pull-down menu, or other type of user interface forreceiving a set of preference selections. In the example embodimentshown in FIG. 4, the user may select or de-select (i.e. enable/activateor disable/deactivate) a set of advertising-related parameters orpreferences. These user-configurable advertising-related parameters orpreferences can include an opt-out selection 512. The opt-out controlallows a user to specify whether or not s/he wants to participate intargeted advertising. If the user selects “opt-out” at selection 512 byclicking and marking the associated shaded box, the user's profileinformation is not used or provided for use by others for the purpose oftargeted advertising. If the user de-selects “opt-out” at selection 512by clicking and un-marking the associated shaded box, the user's profileinformation can be used or provided for use by others for the purpose oftargeted advertising.

In the example embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the user may also select orde-select (i.e. enable/activate or disable/deactivate) a set ofadvertising-related segment parameters or preferences. Segments can beconsidered groupings into which a particular user has been automaticallyplaced based on user behavior or demographics. For example, one segmentmay be based on gender; male users get classified in a male segment andfemale users get classified in a female segment. Other examples ofsegments include, age ranges, income ranges, location, marital status,parental status, historical buying habits, etc. It is common inconventional systems to classify particular users into a plurality ofsegments for the purpose of targeted advertising. Given that a pluralityof segments have been created for each particular user, page 510provides an opportunity for the system to present the pre-defined usersegments to the particular user with whom the segments are associated.In this manner, the user is given information defining how the user hasbeen previously classified into a plurality of segments for the purposeof targeted advertising. These user-specific segment classifications canbe displayed to the user in page 510 as a list of segments 514. Eachsegment is configured with a selectable shaded box with which the usermay select or de-select (i.e. enable/activate or disable/deactivate)each of the plurality of advertising-related segments previouslyassociated with the user. If the user selects a particular segment atsegment options 514 by clicking and marking the associated shaded box,the user's segment classification for that segment can be used orprovided for use by others for the purpose of targeted advertising. Ifthe user de-selects a particular segment at segment options 514 byclicking and un-marking the associated shaded box, the user's segmentclassification for that segment is not used or provided for use byothers for the purpose of targeted advertising. Further, a user can addor remove particular individual elements or demographic data to theuser's individual profile. For example, a user could specify that s/heis interested in receiving information regarding financial offers. Aplurality of profile parameters or preferences can be offered to a userfor configuration by the user. In this manner, a user can configure aset of parameters or preferences associated with advertising.

FIG. 5 illustrates a system architecture for delivering advertising tousers in a networked system. Referring to FIG. 1, a system can providetechniques for manipulating networked content. For example, a publishingsystem 610 can be used to insert an advertisement (ad) 611 obtained froman advertiser 603 into publisher media 605 at a publisher website 615 (awebsite is one type of media or networked content). To accomplish thisad insertion, the publisher 610 can insert a piece of code provided bythe advertising partner 603 into the publisher website's 615 sourcecode. This code is then rendered when the page is viewed by a viewer 618to display the publisher media with the advertisement in the location onthe page indicated in the inserted code. Should the publisher 610 wantto move or modify the ad, the publisher 610 changes the code at the site615 to effect the change to the ad. The advertiser 603 can employ userad profile information 604 to target a particular ad for a particularuser viewing publisher media 605 via publisher website 615. User adprofile information 604 can be automatically created and updated withuser behavior information and user demographics. In addition, the userad profile information 604 can be used for the storage of theuser-configurable set of parameters or preferences associated withadvertising as described above. These user configurable preferences canbe accessed and used by advertiser 603 when advertiser 603 determineswhich ad should be served to a particular user fia publisher 610. Forexample, if the “opt-out of advertising” parameter has been previouslyselected by a user as described above, the advertiser 603 can offer upan ad to publisher 610 that is not targeted per the selection request ofthe user. For another example, if the “opt-in to segment 1” parameterhas been previously selected by a user as described above, theadvertiser 603 can offer up an ad to publisher 610 that is targeted toindividuals of segment 1 per the selection request of the user. In thismanner, the ads shown to a particular user can be configured by a userby user manipulation of a set of user-configurable parameters orpreferences associated with advertising as described above.

In an example embodiment described herein and shown by example in FIG.5, the display object 320 used to enable user configuration of theadvertising parameters can be inserted into the ad 611 by advertiser 603or inserted into the publisher media content with inserted ad 612 by thepublisher 610. In either case, the activation of the display object 320by a user can cause a link to the appropriate host of theuser-configurable parameters or preferences associated with advertisingas described above.

FIG. 6 illustrates a processing flow for an example embodiment. Theexample embodiment includes an advertising (ad) preferences service toobtain user preference information related to advertising (processingblock 702), enable user configuration of the user preference informationrelated to advertising (processing block 704), and modify thepresentation of advertising to the user based upon the user configuredpreference information (processing block 706).

Referring now to FIG. 7, a diagram illustrates a network environment inwhich various example embodiments may operate. In this conventionalnetwork architecture, a server computer system 100 is coupled to awide-area network 110. Wide-area network 110 includes the Internet, orother proprietary networks, which are well known to those of ordinaryskill in the art. Wide-area network 110 may include conventional networkbackbones, long-haul telephone lines, Internet service providers,various levels of network routers, and other conventional means forrouting data between computers. Using conventional network protocols,server 100 may communicate through wide-area network 110 to a pluralityof client computer systems 120, 130, 140 connected through wide-areanetwork 110 in various ways. For example, client 140 is connecteddirectly to wide-area network 110 through direct or dial-up telephone orother network transmission line. Alternatively, clients 130 may beconnected through wide-area network 110 using a modem pool 114. Aconventional modem pool 114 allows a plurality of client systems toconnect with a smaller set of modems in modem pool 114 for connectionthrough wide-area network 110. In another alternative network topology,wide-area network 110 is connected to a gateway computer 112. Gatewaycomputer 112 is used to route data to clients 120 through a local areanetwork (LAN) 116. In this manner, clients 120 can communicate with eachother through local area network 116 or with server 100 through gateway112 and wide-area network 110.

Using one of a variety of network connection means, server computer 100can communicate with client computers 150 using conventional means. In aparticular implementation of this network configuration, a servercomputer 100 may operate as a web server if the Internet's World-WideWeb (WWW) is used for wide area network 110. Using the HTTP protocol andthe HTML coding language across wide-area network 110, web server 100may communicate across the World-Wide Web with clients 150. In thisconfiguration, clients 150 use a client application program known as aweb browser such as the Internet Explorer™ published by MicrosoftCorporation of Redmond, Wash., the user interface of America On-Line™,or the web browser or HTML renderer of any other supplier. Using suchconventional browsers and the World-Wide Web, clients 150 may accessimage, graphical, and textual data provided by web server 100 or theymay run Web application software. Conventional means exist by whichclients 150 may supply information to web server 100 through the WorldWide Web 110 and the web server 100 may return processed data to clients150.

Having briefly described one embodiment of the network environment inwhich an example embodiment may operate, FIGS. 8 and 9 show an exampleof a computer system 200 illustrating an exemplary client 150 or server100 computer system in which the features of an example embodiment maybe implemented. Computer system 200 is comprised of a bus or othercommunications means 214 and 216 for communicating information, and aprocessing means such as processor 220 coupled with bus 214 forprocessing information. Computer system 200 further comprises a randomaccess memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device 222 (commonlyreferred to as main memory), coupled to bus 214 for storing informationand instructions to be executed by processor 220. Main memory 222 alsomay be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediateinformation during execution of instructions by processor 220. Computersystem 200 also comprises a read only memory (ROM) and/or other staticstorage device 224 coupled to bus 214 for storing static information andinstructions for processor 220.

An optional data storage device 228 such as a magnetic disk or opticaldisk and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to computer system200 for storing information and instructions. Computer system 200 canalso be coupled via bus 216 to a display device 204, such as a cathoderay tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD), for displayinginformation to a computer user. For example, image, textual, video, orgraphical depictions of information may be presented to the user ondisplay device 204. Typically, an alphanumeric input device 208,including alphanumeric and other keys is coupled to bus 216 forcommunicating information and/or command selections to processor 220.Another type of user input device is cursor control device 206, such asa conventional mouse, trackball, or other type of cursor direction keysfor communicating direction information and command selection toprocessor 220 and for controlling cursor movement on display 204.

Alternatively, the client 150 can be implemented as a network computeror thin client device. Client 150 may also be a laptop or palm-topcomputing device, such as the Palm Pilot™. Client 150 could also beimplemented in a robust cellular telephone, where such devices arecurrently being used with Internet micro-browsers. Such a networkcomputer or thin client device does not necessarily include all of thedevices and features of the above-described exemplary computer system;however, the functionality of an example embodiment or a subset thereofmay nevertheless be implemented with such devices.

A communication device 226 is also coupled to bus 216 for accessingremote computers or servers, such as web server 100, or other serversvia the Internet, for example. The communication device 226 may includea modem, a network interface card, or other well-known interfacedevices, such as those used for interfacing with Ethernet, Token-ring,or other types of networks. In any event, in this manner, the computersystem 200 may be coupled to a number of servers 100 via a conventionalnetwork infrastructure such as the infrastructure illustrated in FIG. 7and described above.

The system of an example embodiment includes software, informationprocessing hardware, and various processing steps, which will bedescribed below. The features and process steps of example embodimentsmay be embodied in articles of manufacture as machine or computerexecutable instructions. The instructions can be used to cause a generalpurpose or special purpose processor, which is programmed with theinstructions to perform the steps of an example embodiment.Alternatively, the features or steps may be performed by specifichardware components that contain hard-wired logic for performing thesteps, or by any combination of programmed computer components andcustom hardware components. While embodiments are described withreference to the Internet, the method and apparatus described herein isequally applicable to other network infrastructures or other datacommunications systems.

Various embodiments are described herein. In particular, the use ofembodiments with various types and formats of user interfacepresentations and/or application programming interfaces may bedescribed. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artthat alternative embodiments of the implementations described herein canbe employed and still fall within the scope of the claimed invention. Inthe detail herein, various embodiments are described as implemented incomputer-implemented processing logic denoted sometimes herein as the“Software”. As described above, however, the claimed invention is notlimited to a purely software implementation.

Thus, a computer-implemented system and method for contextualadvertising and merchandizing based on user configurable preferences isdisclosed. While the present invention has been described in terms ofseveral example embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that the present invention is not limited to the embodimentsdescribed, but can be practiced with modification and alteration withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description herein isthus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: obtaining behaviorinformation for a user profile based on monitored interactions of theuser profile with displayed content of one or more webpages; obtainingdemographic information of the user profile from previous userinteractions; automatically classifying the user profile into categoriesbased on the behavior information and the demographic information;displaying a user interface that includes indications of the categoriesand further includes user interface elements displayed in associationwith each indication of a category, the user interface elements beingselectable to deactivate, in connection with providing targeted content,only a respective category into which the user profile was classified;responsive to input to select one of the user interface elements,deactivating, for the user profile, the respective category, relative towhich the selected user interface element is displayed and keepingactivated other categories; and targeting content to the user profileusing activated categories and not using the deactivated respectivecategory.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising excluding thetargeted content corresponding to the deactivated respective categoryfrom being presented to the user profile.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving input to activate a previously deactivatedcategory and using the previously deactivated category for targeting thecontent to the user profile.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the inputto activate the previously deactivated category is received in relationto a respective user interface element.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the respective user interface element indicates that thepreviously deactivated category is deactivated before the input toactivate the previously deactivated category is received.
 6. The methodof claim 1, further comprising displaying the targeted content to theuser profile in an additional user interface, the additional userinterface including an additional user interface element displayed inassociation with the targeted content, and the additional user interfaceelement being operable to direct the user profile to informationregarding the categories.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprisingdisplaying the user interface that includes the indications of thecategories and further includes the user interface elements based onselection of the additional user interface element.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising aggregating information in the user profilewith information in an additional user profile.
 9. The method of claim1, further comprising associating the categories into which the userprofile is classified with an additional user profile.
 10. A system,comprising: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructionsthat, when executed by the one or more processors, perform operationsincluding: obtaining behavior information for a user profile based onmonitored interactions of the user profile with displayed content of oneor more webpages; obtaining demographic information of the user profilefrom previous user interactions; automatically classifying the userprofile into categories based on the behavior information and thedemographic information; displaying a user interface that includesindications of the categories and further includes user interfaceelements displayed in association with each indication of a category,the user interface elements being selectable to deactivate, inconnection with providing targeted content, only a respective categoryinto which the user profile was classified; responsive to input toselect one of the user interface elements, deactivating, for the userprofile, the respective category, relative to which the selected userinterface element is displayed and keeping activated other categories;and targeting content to the user profile using activated categories andnot using the deactivated respective category.
 11. The system of claim10, wherein the operations further include excluding the targetedcontent corresponding to the deactivated respective category from beingpresented to the user profile.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein theoperations further include receiving input to activate a previouslydeactivated category and using the previously deactivated category fortargeting the content to the user profile.
 13. The system of claim 12,wherein the input to activate the previously deactivated category isreceived in relation to a respective user interface element.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the respective user interface elementindicates that the previously deactivated category is deactivated beforethe input to activate the previously deactivated category is received.15. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further includedisplaying the targeted content to the user profile in an additionaluser interface, the additional user interface including an additionaluser interface element displayed in association with the targetedcontent, and the additional user interface element being operable todirect the user profile to information regarding the categories.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the operations further include displayingthe user interface that includes the indications of the categories andfurther includes the user interface elements based on selection of theadditional user interface element.
 17. One or more computer-readablestorage media storing instructions that are executable by one or moreprocessors to perform operations including: obtaining behaviorinformation for a user profile based on monitored interactions of theuser profile with displayed content of one or more webpages; obtainingdemographic information of the user profile from previous userinteractions; automatically classifying the user profile into categoriesbased on the behavior information and the demographic information;displaying a user interface that includes indications of the categoriesand further includes user interface elements displayed in associationwith each indication of a category, the user interface elements beingselectable to deactivate, in connection with providing targeted content,only a respective category into which the user profile was classified;responsive to input to select one of the user interface elements,deactivating, for the user profile, the respective category, relative towhich the selected user interface element is displayed and keepingactivated other categories; and targeting content to the user profileusing activated categories and not using the deactivated respectivecategory.
 18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim17, wherein the operations further include excluding the targetedcontent corresponding to the deactivated respective category from beingpresented to the user profile.
 19. The one or more computer-readablestorage media of claim 17, wherein the operations further includedisplaying the targeted content to the user profile in an additionaluser interface, the additional user interface including an additionaluser interface element displayed in association with the targetedcontent, and the additional user interface element being operable todirect the user profile to information regarding the categories.
 20. Theone or more computer-readable storage media of claim 19, wherein theoperations further include displaying the user interface that includesthe indications of the categories and further includes the userinterface elements based on selection of the additional user interfaceelement.